Responders for Ongar go 'live'
Monday, 05 July, 2010
A new era has begun in west Essex following the launch of the Ongar Community First Responder group.
On Thursday, June 24, the Brentwood and Ongar Gazette was invited to meet Andrew Bridger and Lisa Harvey, who have founded the group, as well as members of ambulance staff. The group went operational this week, but naturally are hoping the numbers swell so that their coverage can increase.
Work has been going on for the past couple of years to set a group up in the area. Essex community partnership manager John Hopkins, pictured (right) with Andrew and Lisa, said: "CFRs are an integral part of the ambulance service's pre hospital response and it has been proved over and over that those first few seconds after a cardiac arrest are vital and CFRs with a defibrillator can make all the difference."
